CHIEF JUSTICE: Moore vies for old job; Vance stands opposed

Monday

Oct 29, 2012 at 12:01 AM

Roy Moore, the Alabama Supreme Court chief justice from 2001-03, is running against Democratic Jefferson County Circuit Judge Robert Vance Jr. for Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice. The general election is Nov. 6. Nine other state appellate races are on the ballot, but all the candidates are running unopposed.

By Dana BeyerleMontgomery Bureau Chief

MONTGOMERY | Former Chief Justice Roy Moore seeks his old job in what is almost surely his final judicial campaign.Moore, the Alabama Supreme Court chief justice from 2001-03, is running against Democratic Jefferson County Circuit Judge Robert Vance Jr. The general election is Nov. 6. Nine other state appellate races are on the ballot, but all the candidates are running unopposed.Moore, 65, if elected, could not seek another judicial office unless the Legislature raises the maximum judicial age of 70. Moore chuckled when he said “never say never,” but figures this race is his last.“I have no (other) plans at this time,” Moore said, “I'm looking forward to being chief justice.”The 51-year-old Vance, who goes by Bob, entered the contest late after the state Democratic Party removed nominee Harry Lyon.Vance said he did not enter the primary since he was satisfied with Republican Chief Justice Charles Malone, whom he believed would win the GOP nomination against Moore and former Attorney General Charles Graddick.A heavy evangelical turnout for Republican Rick Santorum in the March presidential preference primary apparently propelled Moore to the nomination without a runoff.Athens State University professor of government and public affairs said probable straight-ticket voting for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will help Moore. President Barack Obama, the Democratic incumbent, failed to carry Alabama in 2008.“I can't quite discern if Vance's campaign treasury and his own personality is enough to overcome the anti-Obama straight-ticket voting we're going to see in November,” Brown said. “But something tells me that race is going to be a lot closer than people think.”Unlike some previous chief justice races, neither Moore nor Vance have raised a lot of money. Vance reported $688,474 through last week and Moore reported raising $517,620 since the March primary.Moore said that having Obama on the ballot “certainly won't hurt, because Barack Obama doesn't stand for the same things that people stand for and neither does the Democratic Party.”Vance said he hopes he can persuade voters to split their tickets.Besides being chief among nine Supreme Court justices, the state's top jurist is also manager of the state court system. Moore and Vance agree that court operations have been hurt by budget cuts.“To be candid, I don't have any magic formula,” Vance said. “What I do say is any solution has to be the result of a process of working with the Legislature and working with judges, working with clerks and district attorneys, trying to get the best possible funding for our courts.”Moore's first budget was cut by $13 million. “I look forward to working with legislators … and I think we'll have a pretty good opportunity to make our case,” Moore said.Moore has a controversial past. He first hit the radar screen when he was sued for posting a copy of the Ten Commandments in his Etowah County courtroom.After being elected chief justice, Moore was sued for the Ten Commandments monuments he installed in the Judicial Building. U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson ruled against Moore. Moore lost his office in 2003 for refusing Thompson's order to move the monument.Moore said Thompson's ruling was illegal because it denied him a constitutional right to acknowledge God. Moore was removed from office by the Court of the Judiciary in November 2003.“It wasn't about the Ten Commandments or a monument or religion but was about the acknowledgment of the sovereignty of God,” Moore said last week.Nonetheless, he said he's made his point and the monument won't return to the Judicial Building. “That would be wrong to make it about me or my will again,” Moore said.Vance said he won't violate a judge's order. “If I'm subject to an order of another court and it is a valid order, it's my obligation as an American citizen to follow that order,” Vance said.Vance was an attorney in private practice in 1989 when his father, U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Robert Vance, was killed in 1989 by an exploding pipe bomb in his Mountain Brook home.“It had an effect on my life,” Vance said. “I learned from that that life is precious and it's a blessing, and you really can't take anything for granted.“What I try to say to people is that it was my father's life more than his death that had an impact,” Vance said. “I had the opportunity to learn from him and he was a great role model for me.”